"Green" policies are destroying this country

Being able to store phots on Instagram generates jobs, which feeds people, and taxes, which help provide services. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive and there is ongoing research on dual use land.

Hes not wrong, backed up by the point made by xxxxxl. 17 types of mustard in Dunnes is ridiculous. Aldi/Lidl have it right, 1 English mustard, 1 dijon, 1 wholegrain, simple.

The sheer amount of food that isn't sold by every corner shop, convenience store and supermarket in this country must be off the charts. If we did scrually consume everything that makes it to the shelves our obesity levels would be far higher than they already are.

If people can be persuaded to buy it then it will sell. The limited lines that Aldi and Lidl carry also force you to shop elsewhere for what they don't stock. The 17 varieties only applies to certain stores where people expect a lot of choice. In some of the stores you will just not find that. Bear in mind too that you may have two own brand versions as well.

Nobody is forced to shop elsewhere, that's a personal choice. I can shop exclusively in Aldi or Lidl for months. What is so crucial that must be bought in another supermarket?

I have no issue with consumer choice for the most part, but the cost of the goods need to include the full economic and environmental cost of producing that product or service including the cost to recycle or dispose of the packaging.

There also need to be better regulations on sustainable packaging and even the quality of the goods on sale (you shouldn't be allowed to sell an electronic item that is single use and breaks instantly... basically everything made from plastic in the 2 euro shop) and for more expensive electronic items, there should be a minimum service life for these. 10 years for 'white goods' should be a minimum.

I have kids and the vast vast majority of 'toys' sold to children are absolutely appalling quality and are so over packaged. We have the CE mark for safety, but we should also have a Q mark for quality.

I'd rather have the charity shops full of good quality 2nd hand toys that kids can actually play with, than the 'new' rubbish that is marketed to appeal to kids but breaks almost straight away

We are the rich and powerful! Rich countries in Europe and the West like Ireland are the heavy polluters. The richest 10% produce half the world's pollution, that's us - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/worlds-richest-10-produce-half-of-global-carbon-emissions-says-oxfam

Environmental campaigners (real ones, not the celebs looking for attention) are campaigning against private jets, and all of the wasteful consumption from the wealthiest

The solution is to fight for better regulations than moaning about hypocrites

If the politicians are not implementing or at least fighting for these regulations, then they should be held accountable at the ballot box.

Regulations like the minimum energy efficiency of a new home, the materials they can be constructed from must be sustainable, taxation on private air transport so that if they do use private air travel, at least they pay for the cost of mitigating or (genuinely) offsetting that carbon

Proper oversight and regulation of all the 'net zero' offsetting so that people have to prove that any 'offsets' would not have happened anyway without being paid for by the scheme

Planning regulations that prevent land owners from chopping down native woodland or disturbing wetlands without proper planning approval and environmental impact assessments

Sustainable development requires planning, and it absolutely needs to capture the externalities that allow producers to sell their goods and services below the true cost of production.

'Consumable' items should cost more to buy but should last way longer and there should be a 2nd hand market for these items in the same way that not all people can afford a new car, but most can afford a decent 2nd hand car that was built to last)

Of course, there are lots of financial interests who prefer it the other way.

Fair enough, but there does not see like a lot you actually do agree with where this green ideology is concerned, and even less with our Green Party.

For green policy generally, especially in Europe, their policy on food production will inevitable cause more deaths through wars and starvation in a much shorter space of time than climate change. For Ireland we have already seen that here it`s just dressed up as being for the reduction of global emissions where anyone can see it is not going to decrease emissions by one iota. With a worldwide demand for meat and dairy produce projected to continue to increase, all the evidence points to it resulting in an increase in emissions where others will step in to fill that space in the market using much more harmful ways environmentally than Irish farmers.

If greens are really interested in reducing cattle numbers then they should employ a few factory managers rather than geeks running computer predictions. Those managers would not be long telling them that they are yet again putting the cart before the horse, and that efficiency is maximum production in a safe manner with the least amount of resources. The global problem with cattle emissions is not Ireland where we have the climate and standards and we do it well with high yields, it`s the numbers of cattle in the third world where none of that is applicable.

Irish green policy on energy is a mess built around strong arm tactics and hopeism. Which again is contradictory for such a bunch of doomsday preachers where hopeism is concerned.

Ah the ol "board", always ends well.

Do you not have any self respect? If I don't litter or fly tip or burn my rubbiah in the garden it makes no difference to the great Pacific garbage patch. But I still don't do these things because I hold myself to a high standard

We need to adopt high standards for ourselves and expect those standards of others